American Airlines may outsource more maintenance

Feb. 05--For years, American Airlines bucked the industry trend of sending maintenance work overseas.

But that may soon end with the announcement last week that American plans to close its Alliance Fort Worth maintenance base and outsource the work performed on wide-body aircraft such as the Boeing 767 and 777.

Over the past decade, U.S. carriers have increasingly sent big planes to facilities in Singapore, China and Mexico for maintenance. Some, like Southwest Airlines, send narrow-body aircraft to maintenance bases in El Salvador and Canada.

"There is a broad and deep global marketplace for heavy maintenance work on wide-body airplanes," American CEO Tom Horton said during a meeting Thursday with the Star-Telegram Editorial Board. "And the reason for that is very simple. The airplanes fly everywhere. They can be maintained in Asia or Latin America or North America or Europe. They can be maintained anywhere."

Cost is the driving factor. It is far cheaper to have the work done overseas, said John Eakin, who owns Air Data Research in Helotes.

"So much of the work is labor-intensive that it is just hard for American shops to be competitive," Eakin said.

The move toward outsourcing is part of the airline's plan to emerge from bankruptcy as a more competitive company.

But some wonder whether maintenance done outside the U.S. isn't as safe.

The Transport Workers Union, which represents 26,000 workers at American and its regional carrier American Eagle, has raised concerns that government inspectors cannot properly inspect or oversee third-party maintenance facilities.

According to a Transportation Department inspector general report in 2010, neither the Federal Aviation Administration nor the carriers "provide regular on-site reviews of the maintenance performed at these facilities."

The report said there is a higher risk because third-party companies are usually not FAA-certified and don't have the same quality controls.

American said it still plans to have its own mechanics do a large portion of its maintenance even as it proposes to outsource 40 percent.

"We never have and never will compromise the safety and reliability of our fleet," spokeswoman Andrea Huguely said. "Even though we are proposing increasing our outsourcing, work done at any other facility will always be subject to our and the FAA's rigorous safety standards."

TWU international representative Don Videtich said American's mechanics are proud of their work and their ability to help the carrier save money by improving their productivity.

"Whether it is overseas or another [maintenance base] in the States, it is just disheartening because everybody at the company and the union was not just focused on maintaining jobs but maintaining the quality product," Videtich said.

Thousands of U.S. airline mechanics have lost their jobs in the outsourcing wave. In a March report on the issue, the TWU found that passenger airlines had a total of 42,774 mechanics in 2009, down 33 percent from 64,248 in 2000, even as the total aircraft declined only 6 percent. About 1,200 workers at Alliance would be affected by the American maintenance base closure.

But industry analysts say American needs to make the move to remain cost-competitive with other carriers.

All major U.S. carriers except American have outsourced maintenance overseas in the past decade. From 2001 to 2009, outsourcing went from 29 percent to 60 percent at US Airways and from 18 percent to 41 percent at United Airlines, according to a 2011 report from the TWU.

"We've seen the last 10 years of this trend, and this has been the safest 10 years in the airline industry," airline consultant Darryl Jenkins said.

The Aeronautical Repair Station Association, which represents aircraft maintenance companies, said that regardless of where a maintenance facility is, the regulatory requirements are the same.

"The airline continues to be responsible for the entire maintenance program put into effect by its maintenance providers," said Sarah MacLeod, the association's executive director.

American has not told the TWU whether it wants to outsource maintenance overseas or to companies in North Carolina or San Antonio.

With American's plan to buy 460 aircraft from Boeing and Airbus in the next decade, the TWU acknowledges that mechanics would have faced job cuts anyway, as the newer planes need fewer maintenance checks. But the union believes that American's proposals are overreaching and disheartening.

"The focus should have been on all the infrastructure and processes in place and utilize those facilities to their utmost," Videtich said. "We're planning on fighting for every job, and that includes Alliance."

Andrea Ahles, 817-390-7631

Twitter: @Sky_Talk